Spying on Chancellor Merkel

My aunt has a 90-year-old brother who lives in a suburb of Kassel, Germany.  I asked her for his address so I could write to him about his opinion on the U.S. government’s tapping of Chancellor Merkel’s phone conversations and emails.  Here’s my letter, edited to remove some personal items about my aunt.

Dear ________, 

I believe that ever since the World Trade Center attack, the United States government has lost its ideals.  Time and time again I hear people willing to defend phone taps, email recordings, or intrusive airport searches.  They say, “I guess it will make us safer...,” and shrug.

We have turned into a nation where people are constantly afraid.  For example, one would-be terrorist tried to put a bomb in his shoe.  The bomb didn’t explode, but millions of people must now take off their shoes at airports.  The Transportation Safety Agency, which supervises airport security, has grown into a very large agency.

In spite of all of that, I never thought the U.S.government would intercept messages of our German and French allies.  Evidently this started in 2002 under President Bush.  President Obama says he didn’t know about it.  If he didn’t, he should have; if he did, he should have stopped it.

I am a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization which defends the Bill of Rights, but I’m afraid we aren’t very successful.  

On another subject, I keep your sister supplied with fresh eggs.  My wife Linda and I have 23 chickens, and we get about a dozen eggs a day.  We have a large garden, and I raise lots of hot peppers and preserve many jars of jam and jelly.  If you would like a jar, let me know.

By the way, we also make our own sauerkraut.  I suppose you know that Pennsylvania Germans originally came from the Palatinate section of Germany.  In fact, there are a few very elderly people in our area who still speak the dialect known as “Pennsylvania “Dutch” or Deutsch, in the original spelling.  My father, who died in 2006, could still speak it.

If you feel more comfortable writing back in German, feel free to do that.  If I have trouble translating, I can always ask your sister for help.

If my “pen pal” sends a reply, I will share the relevant portions with you.